Ranker’s Return

The sharp clash of cold weapons occurred one after another. Every time the spear and sword collided, a new wave of sparks would fly about. The man holding the spear gritted his teeth and pushed the opposing side away roughly, shoving her so hard that he couldn’t breathe.

Then he swung his spear unceasingly for a moment, giving the opponent who was attacking effortlessly no choice but to take the defensive. He didn’t give her time to attack. It was obvious even to a three-year-old child that the man with the spear seemed to be dominating.

However, the expression of Gang Seok, the man wielding the spear, wasn’t good. ‘It’s like hitting against a wall.’

The opponent’s defense was too tight. It was a huge wall with no end in sight.

‘What is the problem?’

Questions started to rise in Gang Seok’s mind. Something was going wrong. Gang Seok was a specialist in PvP, and it was entirely his achievement that had allowed the Charlotte Dragons to finish fourth in the last league. In each match, he killed at least two players in PvP. In many cases, he even killed four. Defeating four out of six people was a great feat.

Due to this, Gang Seok always received scouting offers from other teams that proposed they would give him better treatment if he switched over to their team. Nevertheless, that was all a thing of the past. Gang Seok was now powerless. Furthermore, it was in front of Yuri, a priest player.

A thick greatsword sharply cut through the air and fell toward Gang Seok’s head. This was Yuri’s counterattack. She had been silently defending so far, but she was now launching an offensive.

Gang Seok raised his spear to block the greatsword. However, there was no space for him to avoid it. It was a blow that flew forth at the perfect timing. The spear that blocked the greatsword shook.

“Hup!” A groan flowed involuntarily from Gang Seok’s mouth as he felt a strong impact run up from his fingertips.

‘How did she distribute her stat points?’

The attack was quite heavy. It was the result of a stats distribution that he couldn’t quite understand.

‘Don’t tell me...? Is this the reason why Park Hanjong was pushed?’ Upon noticing that Yuri had used a traditional stats distribution that didn’t match the current trends, Gang Seok finally figured out why Park Hanjong had been pushed often during his battle with Yuri. Just then, Gang Seok frowned as he watched his opponent. Yuri didn’t continue the offensive. She once again held the greatsword and took a defensive stance, showing no intention of attacking.

‘This isn’t going to finish quickly,’ Gang Seok realized.

Yuri’s stats distribution—which minimized magic power—lacked explosive power, but it was strong in a drawn-out fight. In particular, it could overpower those who invested a lot of points in magic power. Of course, there were preconditions for such a combat strategy to work. The user needed to have better control skills than the opponent. It wasn’t necessary to be overwhelming, but they could not lose their dominance.

‘I can’t just hold on like this until my magic power runs out... Obviously...’ Gang Seok thought. 

Yuri’s strategy was originally reckless, but she changed the recklessness into certainty. Yuri and Hyeonu had made it precisely this way. For most of the week, Yuri was the one who fought with Hyeonu. He taught her intensively, showing her how she could be totally unbothered by the opponent’s attacks. Specifically, he taught her how to become a solid iron wall, starting with figuring out the opponent’s movements. This way of fighting stemmed from Hyeonu’s past experience of playing as a paladin in other games.

Yuri thought, ‘I learned really hard. I really can’t lose today.’

She was just as desperate as Gang Seok. It didn’t make sense for her to lose after Hyeonu gave her such intensive teaching. Losing would bring trouble not just to Yuri but to Hyeonu as well.

Gang Seok’s spear pierced through the air. The spear had a pale blue energy, but it wasn’t perfect. Rather, it was extremely light, which meant it wasn’t a completely formed pure energy. This in turn meant Yuri could block it. There would be some damage, but this would be covered by her high physique stat. Yuri used the wide surface of the blade to lightly block the spear, steadily withstanding Gang Seok’s stab.

‘It is nothing compared to Oppa’s attacks.’

It was an obvious attack. Gang Seok had very obviously infused magic power and moved, making a clear sound. Yuri would be sorry to Hyeonu if she were hit by such a strike. Instead, she immediately tried to counterattack. Pushing away Gang Seok’s spear, Yuri swung her greatsword. Gang Seok sent strength to his feet and kicked hard against the ground. Then his body fell back, and Yuri’s greatsword swept over the place where he had just been.

The switch between attack and defense was repeated many times. In Yuri’s endless defensive state, Gang Seok attacked first, and Yuri blocked. The more the situation was repeated, the emptier two things became—Gang Seok’s magic power and Yuri’s health.

However, Yuri’s health was much higher than Gang Seok’s magic power. Gang Seok also had a lot of health left, but this didn’t really mean much. The fight would end in a few hits anyway. If there were a critical hit, it would be two blows at most. Furthermore, if he were unlucky enough to have his heart or throat pierced, he would die at once.

Gang Seok knew this fact and had a gloomy expression. It was clear the situation was against him. The shadow of defeat had already been cast.

‘I still have one blow left,’ he stated inwardly. Gang Seok rejected the temptation in his heart to give up. The moment he gave up, the fight would really be over. Nonetheless, Gang Seok’s attitude didn’t matter. The balance of the fight was already tilting. After his magic power was depleted, his attacks were no different from swipes of a fireplace poker. He had no power left, and he was empty-headed.

Yuri’s greatsword hit Gang Seok’s spear once again. This had already happened a few times before, but Gang Seok’s reaction was different this time. Unable to withstand Yuri’s attack, Gang Seok stepped back. He didn’t just take one or two steps back; he took four or five steps. Compared to before, there was a difference in his strength stat.

Yuri’s behavior changed as well. She didn’t step back any longer and continued the offensive. This was when she started to push Gang Seok. Yuri rushed toward him. Upon arriving in front of him, she stepped strongly against the ground, straightened her waist, and raised her greatsword. Then she swung it hard. The greatsword fell with a loud sound.

‘What should I do?’ Gang Seok wondered. He had to choose. Should he block it or avoid it? There was no correct answer. Both had their own pros and cons. Honestly, it was ambiguous to say if one was better or not. The situation was already gloomy anyway. ‘Avoid and attack.’

Gang Seok made a judgment and moved immediately. There was no need for him to hesitate over how to move. It was superfluous. Even if this were the wrong choice, he shouldn’t hesitate. The moment he stopped, some variables would disappear.

Gang Seok jumped back. Then Yuri applied the brakes to her falling greatsword, slowing down the rate of the descent. Simultaneously, she lifted her back foot and pushed hard against the ground. The moment the ground shook, Yuri rushed forward again. Just then, the stopped greatsword moved. It didn’t move with the momentum of the first swing, but it was still a threatening momentum.

‘This...!!!’ Gang Seok saw the scene in front of him and doubted his eyes. He couldn’t stop this. It was an attack that was coming for him with unstoppable timing. This combat skill had a level of control only seen in first-class pro gamers. Moreover, they could only show it when their condition was at the peak. It definitely wasn’t something that a priest player could display casually.

‘Is it Alley Leader...?’

Yet when Gang Seok thought about Yuri’s teammate, he realized it wasn’t an impossibility. Alley Leader—it was possible if she had learned something from him. After all, her talent was extraordinary.

Yuri’s greatsword was right before Gang Seok’s body. Gang Seok raised his long spear, which was narrower than the greatsword, while Yuri tried to cut it with her greatsword. As Gang Seok had no magic power, he couldn’t resist her attack. His grip loosened, and the spear went soaring high into the sky.

It was only at this moment that Yuri smiled. She knew she couldn’t be careless at the end, but she was still smiling now. Yuri couldn’t hold back the smile. There was no weapon in the opponent’s hand. No matter what happened, it would be Yuri’s victory unless the server went down.

She wielded the greatsword straightaway and instinctively felt that this was the last strike of the fight. The greatsword pierced Gang Seok’s abdomen, making Yuri the victor. This was Yuri’s first victory and Crescent Moon’s first victory in PvP today.

-The winner of the first game is Yuri of Crescent Moon! After a while, we will start the second game.

***

Creak.

The door of Crescent Moon’s waiting room opened, and the people inside happily welcomed the woman who entered.

“Noona, you did a great job. Congratulations on your first win!”

“Congratulations on the first victory!”

Lee Hoon and Dwayne were the first to approach Yuri and offer their congratulations. These two people were well aware of the heaviness and the joy of experiencing the first victory. Naturally, the meaning of their congratulations was more special than that of others.

“Thank you for the congratulations, both of you.” Yuri smiled in response to Lee Hoon’s and Dwayne’s congratulations. Now she could truly feel that she had won.

This was when Sunny approached Yuri and said, “Yuri, you did really well! Drink this.” 

Sunny handed Yuri her favorite coffee. Yuri nodded to thank Sunny and accepted the coffee. “Thank you, Unni! I’ll drink it well.”

Picking up the coffee, Yuri then walked toward the sofa inside the waiting room, where Hyeonu was seated.

“Congratulations, Yuri! I believed you would win. You worked so hard that it is right for you to win.” Hyeonu looked at Yuri and shook slightly.

In fact, Hyeonu hadn’t been convinced that Yuri would win. Thus, he celebrated even more.

‘I just helped her because she was working so hard.’

It began precisely from the time he saw Yuri with a gloomy expression. He had never seen Yuri lose her smile before, yet she stopped smiling at some point. She looked anxious like she was being chased by something. Yuri had lost her ability to relax. She couldn’t leave her tablet and monitor and would always be busy watching and writing something. He felt it then. Something was wrong. Thus, he grabbed Yuri and taught her. He reduced the amount of time he spent helping the other two and devoted that spare time to Yuri.

Yuri shook her head and said, “It is thanks to Oppa. You did it all. You analyzed Gang Seok and arranged all the things I needed to do.”

Everything was due to Hyeonu. He had anticipated that Gang Seok would come out first and prepared a strategy for the fight. Then he got Yuri to practice that strategy alone for a week.

“Still, you did well. There are some people who won’t be able to learn even if I teach them for 100 days. Ultimately, it’s because you worked hard. A record of one win and one loss is great. Next, you have to win a second time.”

Yuri smiled slightly at Hyeonu’s words. She thought about how he was indeed consistent. In the past, Hyeonu would praise others if things went well and blame himself if they didn’t. It was just like what he was doing now.

“I understand, Oppa.”